News

Ryan Bundy: Guns Show We’re Serious

Ryan Bundy, left, said militants at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge must be armed in order for the public to take them seriously.

Rick Bowmer/AP

Ryan Bundy – a militant leader who is helping oversee an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge – said the federal government is a bully.

And like any bully who’s been “cutting in the lunch line” too many times, Bundy said the Federal Government needs to be “taken on.”

Bundy acknowledged – for the first time on tape – that occupants took the compound to disrupt the work of federal employees. He blames the employees for the incarceration of Dwight and Steven Hammond, the Harney County father and son convicted of arson on federal land. Bundy said the occupation is retaliation.

RELATED COVERAGE

It doesn’t bother Bundy that people link him – through humor – to violent terrorist groups while also mocking his rural background. Instead, Bundy said the actions and intentions of the federal government bother him.